


Can I Show You What I'm Proudest Of

by PotterheadAvengerDemigod



Series: my heart on your skin [3]
Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: 4+1 Things, 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Batfamily Feels, Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Cute, DaddyBats, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kinda, M/M, POV Roy Harper, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Roy Harper, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Shovel Talk, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, actually more like 4+1 Things haha, bros, finding out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-06 00:03:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12805269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotterheadAvengerDemigod/pseuds/PotterheadAvengerDemigod
Summary: Iris opens her mouth, probably to say something along the lines of “Oh my God, you’re soulmates, what, oh my God, why didn’t you tell me, what,” before Barry beats her to it.A.K.A. Four times Dick and Wally didn't have to tell people they were soulmates and one time they did





	1. Barry & Iris

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this installment took so I've been bogged down by life! I hope you guys enjoy this one too, I'm not sure how well written this one is to be very honest, but here it is!

Wally’s still revelling in the newfound information that Dick Grayson -his best bro, his best friend,  _ his Robin-  _ is none other than his soulmate, the person whose greatest wishes had been imprinted on his skin since before he could even remember- when he looks down and, oh, Dick’s fallen asleep. The younger boy is almost angelic in his sleep, forehead smoothed of wrinkles and entire body relaxed in sleep, slack and trusting and it strikes him just how young Dick is. Dick is a full two and a half, almost three years younger than him, and this boy has already seen so much pain, so much hurt in his short twelve years, more than Wally thinks even Uncle Barry, who’s almost two and a half times Dick’s age, has seen.

Dick’s life has been hard, Wally knows, he was right there for everything, the searing agony when the Graysons fell, the raging fury when Zucco came out of hiding, Wally watched everything happen from the scrawl on his skin.

He lies down beside Dick, the latter still bundled in his blanket burrito, robbing Wally of his own sheets, but the speedster can’t find it in himself to care. He curls up next to Dick, keeping the raven haired boy in view as he watches the rhythmic, gentle rise and fall of Dick’s chest, the way his face smooths out and relaxes in sleep. His black hair is flopping messily over one eye and curling over his cheek, and Wally can’t help but reach out and brush the strands away.

He can’t believe he’s lucky enough to have this amazing boy as his soulmate.

It’s been two years since they’ve known each other, and only minutes since they found out they were soulmates, but already Wally can’t see his life without Dick by his side.

He curls up beside the younger boy, listening to Dick’s heartbeat, strong and steady and familiar, and when he falls asleep, curled into Dick like two perfect puzzle pieces, he’s still smiling.

* * *

 

“Wally?” Iris calls as she heads up the stairs, her husband by her side, to the guest room that had all but been converted into a room for her nephew. She knows her brother and sister-in-law aren’t exactly the best parents -you don’t become one of the city’s best investigative reporters by being unobservant- but there wasn’t much she could do unless Rudy and Mary became outright abusive. The best she could was offer Wally a safe haven if he needed one.

At least at her house Wally would never have to hide, would never have to watch his every move and act like the perfect child. At least at her house he could have friends over whenever he wanted without practically a month’s advance notice.

At least at her house Wally wouldn’t be punished for things like what had happened earlier that day when Dick had all but broken in and rushed to Wally’s room so quickly that Iris had barely registered his apology before he was out of sight.

But while she was on the topic, Iris was particularly concerned about the younger boy too. He’d been upset, shaken in a way Iris didn’t think she’d ever seen on any Bat or associate of the Bats, and judging by Barry’s concerned expression she would wager even he’d never seen the kid so visibly distressed.

So yes, she was worried about the boy who’d practically become like another nephew to her, her actual nephew’s best friend and brother in all but blood, the boy who had literal years more of experience in the superhero world compared to Wally but still took to her nephew like a duck to water, even if Iris wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d turned up his nose at the inexperienced, clumsy novice that Wally had once been.

Iris West-Allen honestly loved Dick Grayson almost as much, if not as much, as she loved her own blood nephew, and it was that love that sent her climbing the stairs to Wally’s room when the faint murmur of the two boys talking had faded abruptly into startling silence, her husband hot on her heels.

The sudden cessation of noise had unsettled both Barry and herself, because Wally was anything but a quiet child, and the rowdiness that seemed to possess Dick every time he hung around the other boy was a sight to behold as well.

It goes without saying that quiet when the two boys were together almost never preceded anything good.

Iris opens the door to Wally’s room cautiously, and the sight that meets her eyes has her smiling widely, hand covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.

This would be the one time that their silence meant nothing particularly malevolent.

Both her nephew and his best friend are curled up on Wally’s bed, the blankets half kicked off the bed and the sheets beneath them creased. Wally is partially covered by a sheet, flung haphazardly across his torso in a way that makes Iris think Dick was probably the one who threw the fabric across Wally’s body in his sleep. Her nephew is spread-eagled on the mattress, one arm hanging off the side of the bed and the other under flung out across the bed. He’s drooling into the pillow that his head is only half-rested on, and, adorably, his legs are tangled with Dick’s.

Dick himself is a conservative sleeper, it seems. The dark haired boy is huddled into himself, rolled onto his side with his head resting on Wally’s outstretched arm.

Iris turns to Barry, who’s smiling softly like the dork he actually is, and then she’s sliding her phone out of her pocket and flipping it to camera mode. She swallows a giggle as she snaps a few pictures, and then she backs out of the room, Barry at her back, and is just about to close the door when Wally rolls over and the blanket draped across his torso falls to the ground.

Normally, that wouldn’t be much of an issue -Wally is a restless sleeper, always in motion even when he’s unconscious- but this time, this time it’s a shock.

Because will someone please tell her why her fourteen year old nephew is  _ shirtless  _ while  _ sharing a bed  _ with his twelve year old best friend?

She freezes, and feels Barry start violently behind her, and then her gaze lands on Wally’s bared chest, two stark black words scrawled across his skin, and she knows her nephew’s words have never been in English, but these two are.

_ Found you. _

Her eyes widen, and she can already feel the idea taking root in her mind, especially when she turns to Barry and sees her husband’s pale blue eyes fixed unblinkingly on Wally’s words as well.

Unthinkingly, Iris moves closer to the sleeping boys.

Dick’s shirt has ridden up in his sleep, she notes, but it is not the sliver of bare skin that her eyes are drawn to.

No, it’s the two scrawled words across the acrobat’s hipbone that catch her attention, the two words that are now imprinted above her nephew’s heart, the exact same phrase.

And that cements it.

Her gasp of surprise and excitement is so loud that both boys immediately jerk awake, Wally blinking blearily and Dick immediately bolting upright, flipping out of bed and into a ready stance, birdarang already in hand and fingers curled into a fist.

His shoulders sag, muscles relaxing as he registers friendly faces.

“Aunt Iris? Uncle Barry?” Wally says, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he clambers off the mattress. “What’s wrong?”

Iris opens her mouth, probably to say something along the lines of “Oh my God, you’re soulmates, what, oh my God, why didn’t you tell me, what,” before Barry beats her to it.

“Oh my God, you’re soulmates,” her adorable, utter  _ dork _ of a husband blurts without any preamble whatsoever, and then they both watch as the two boys freeze up and shoot each other stunned looks.

“I-” Dick starts, and he’s smiling widely even as his eyes still look a little dazed.

“We are,” Wally says, grinning wide and bright and oh, Iris hasn’t seen her nephew this unabashedly, unashamedly  _ happy _ about anything since she can remember.

Wally reaches out a hand and Dick takes it without even looking, and  _ oh,  _ they are just adorable, aren’t they?

“We just found out,” Dick says almost shyly, and there’s a pale pink flush on both boys’ cheeks, a tad more obvious on Wally’s fairer skin than Dick’s, but visible nonetheless. “We were going to tell you.”

“This is so  _ great!” _ Barry bursts out then, looking for all the world like he can’t contain his enthusiasm. “You guys are soulmates, this is awesome, you’re practically  _ half _ the age I was when I found Iris, thisisgreatwhosgonnatellBatsareyouguysgonnatellBats?”

And Barry had slipped a little into speedster talk by the end there, but Wally could keep up, and both Dick and Iris had managed to catch the gist of what was being said well enough.

“We should probably tell Bruce now, he’ll find out either way if we don’t,” Dick says, laughing, and Wally pales ever so slightly.

“Don’t let Bats hurt me, Rob,” Wally pleads, eyes wide and begging, and Dick snickers.

“You’re fine, Walls,” he says. “Just don’t give B a reason to think you might hurt me and you’ll be safe. Probably.”

Wally whimpers, and Dick laughs, eyes shifting sideways to glance at Barry and Iris before he darts forward and presses a chaste kiss to Wally’s cheek.

“You’ll be just fine, Walls,” he reassures, smile bright and happy, and Iris melts just a little.


	2. Bruce and Alfred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter! This one is pretty short, sorry about that!

When Dick arrives back at Wayne Manor that evening, it’s to a frowning Bruce and a stern-faced Alfred.

“I’m sorry I left without telling anyone,” Dick blurts before Bruce can even open his mouth, and Bruce’s frown deepens.

“You’re lucky Barry had the common sense to call and tell me that you were over at his house, I was about to call J’onn and ask him to scan for your mind.”

Bruce is upset, Dick can tell, even more upset than he usually is, and Dick knows that it doesn’t bode well for him.

He can’t find it in himself to be even a little bit perturbed.

He just found his  _ soulmate,  _ and his soulmate was his  _ best friend,  _ his soulmate was  _ Wally,  _ how could he be anything but ecstatic?

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Dick says, and sees Bruce’s eyes widen ever so slightly at the address. “I didn’t mean to, but my soulmate thought life was pointless and I had to go find hel-”

“You could have come to me, or Alfred,” Bruce admonishes, but his frown softens. Dick knows that while Bruce has never put much stock by soulmates, he respects Dick’s heartfelt view on them.

“I wasn’t thinking,” Dick replies, and he knows he should probably look apologetic, but he can barely stop himself from bouncing on the spot, much less the wide grin that threatens to split his cheeks. “And it didn’t feel right.”

“Still,” Bruce says, brow furrowed.

“What Master Bruce means,” Alfred cuts in smoothly. “Is that he was worried, very much so, and hopes that if you ever feel the need to leave the Manor unplanned, you would at least have the foresight to inform one, if not both of us.”

Dick grins even wider. “Aw, I love you too, B.”

Bruce rolls his eyes, but there’s a slight grin playing at his lips as he raises an eyebrow and asks, “Alright, you’ve got something to tell me; what is it? And please tell Kid Flash that he can stop lurking outside the door.”

Dick’s grin turns sheepish even as the door bursts open and a blushing Wally West tumbles in, shoulders pulled up to his ears and lip being chewed at nervously.

“How’d you know?” Wally asks even before he’s fully come to a stop, and then he freezes as he realises that he’d just questioned Bruce Wayne in his own home.

But Bruce just arches an eyebrow and says, deadpan, “I’m Batman.”

Wally stares, and Dick stares, and then the latter bursts into laughter.

“B, we all know it was the perimeter security you have set up, the sensors have been going off for the past five minutes.”

Bruce’s lips twist and he shoots Dick an unamused glare that almost screams,  _ “thanks for destroying my aura of mystery,”  _ and Dick just laughs harder.

Wally is still pale, chewing nervously at his bottom lip as he eyes the interaction, fingers tapping against his thigh at superspeed. Unthinkingly, he reaches for Dick’s hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing once.

Bruce’s gaze immediately darts to their joined hands, and something in his eyes clears.

“Mr. Wayne,” Wally starts, barely keeping his voice from shaking. “I- We- Um-”

Bruce raises an eyebrow, face blank.

“We’re- um, we’re, that is, Dick and I- um,” Wally stammers, and beside him Dick facepalms.

“You’re soulmates,” Bruce deadpans, eyes darting to their joined hands for a millisecond, and Wally’s eyes widen even as Dick stifles a cackle behind his hand.

“Ding ding ding, we have a winner!” He announces, and Bruce rolls his eyes despite the smile that tugs fleetingly at his lips.

“That is wonderful news, young masters,” Alfred says, and a hint of a smile flits across the ever-stoic butler’s face. “My sincerest congratulations.”

Then Alfred shoots Bruce a sharp glance and clears his throat. Bruce coughs.

“It’s good that you’ve found each other so young,” the billionaire begins awkwardly. “Treat each other well, alright, boys?”

“Yes, sir,” Wally yelps, and Dick snickers, nodding in agreement nonetheless.

“And, West,” Bruce starts, gaze shifting to the young speedster, pinning the boy with the full force of the Batglare. “Hurt Dick, and you’ll wish you were dead.”

_ Eep. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed it, and sorry for the accidental double-post if it caused you any inconvenience I apologise!


	3. Roy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! Roy this time, hope you enjoy!

It’s their weekly movie night at Barry’s house, just Roy and Dick and Wally, the three original child heroes. Tonight they’re revisiting the old Disney classics, Mulan and Aladdin and the like. Wally and Dick are already curled up under a blanket on the couch when Roy walks in, shrugging off his bag and flopping down beside the other two boys with a groan. “High school sucks, kids. Don’t try it.”

“Roy Harper, you take that back,” Iris’s voice sounds as she comes to stand in the doorway. “Education is important, boys, don’t listen to Roy.”

“Sorry, Iris,” Roy says, as sheepish as he could ever be, and Dick and Wally hide their snickers.

Iris nods, appeased, and smiles as she notices the starting credits rolling on the television. “Enjoy your movie night, boys, Barry and I will be out tonight. Call if you need us, we’ll be back in a flash.”

“Aunt I!” Wally groans, more out of reflex than actual exasperation, and Iris laughs, turning to head back up the stairs.

* * *

 

The moment Iris and Barry step out of the house Dick grins and pulls out a duffel bag from under the couch.

“I brought snacks,” he says, grin widening as he opens the bag to reveal a mountain of chip bags and at least 3 one liter bottles of soda. In the corner of the bag is a gigantic ziploc bag of popcorn, which Dick grabs and holds up like a first place trophy.

“Alfred-made,” he says, and both Roy’s and Wally’s eyes widen.

The two boys exchange looks, and then abruptly both of them are lunging for the bag, Wally blurring at the edges as he grabs for it.

“No powers!” Roy yells even as he shoves Wally off the couch, where the speedster lands on the carpeted ground in a disgruntled heap, pouting as Dick clambers onto the back of the sofa and then somehow manages to vault up onto the edge of the bookshelf that’s about three-quarters of the way up the wall.

“Share, guys!” Dick yells from his safe perch, bag cradled to his chest like a newborn. “Either that or I can stay up here for the rest of the night.”

Roy and Wally exchange glances, nodding in agreement, and then Roy offers Wally a hand and hauls him back onto the couch.   
“Truce?” The archer says.   
“Truce,” Wally agrees, nodding decisively. “For the popcorn.”

“For the popcorn.”

Dick flips down from the bookshelf and grins, opening the bag as he nestles himself back between the two redheads, hugging a cushion to his chest and maneuvering until his lithe body is curled on the couch, head in Wally’s lap and legs draped over Roy’s.

Wally leans down and grabs an empty bowl from inside Dick’s duffel bag of treasures and fills it to the brim with popcorn, balancing the bowl on Dick’s stomach even as the acrobat pouts and Roy muffles a snicker.

Roy grabs the remote and hits play the moment Wally and Dick get situated, and then their next few hours are absorbed into a riot of colour and sound and animation.

Halfway through their second movie Dick shifts, and Roy glances up in response, then takes a moment to register what he’s seeing. Dick is pressed into Wally’s stomach, the cuddle monster that he is, but what makes Roy start is that Wally’s fingers are carding absentmindedly through Dick’s hair, and Dick- well, Dick isn’t even paying attention to the movie any longer. He has his face pressed into Wally’s stomach, nuzzling against speedster-warm skin through a thin layer of cotton.

Wally’s smiling, soft and gentle and since  _ when  _ did his two little brothers like each other like  _ that _ ?

The scene is sweet, almost nauseatingly so, and Roy can almost feel his teeth aching from the sheer tenderness in Wally’s smile.

But Dick has always only ever wanted his soulmate- what changed?

Then Dick’s shirt rides up just that bit as he shifts to press closer to Wally, and Roy sees stark black wording in a scrawl that he knows. Handwriting almost as familiar to him as his own.

Words in a hand that Roy sees when Wally comes to him for homework help, words that now read  _ “watch Disney with him all day”,  _ and everything clicks.

Roy smiles softly at the two boys who’ve always been best friends, the two boys whom he had practically watched grow up, his two little brothers, and he thinks about his own words scribbled on his right shoulder blade, only visible when he looks at them in the mirror, a short sentence that has been the same since almost before he can remember.  _ Every girl for herself. _

Roy shakes the thoughts out of his mind and smooths the hem of Dick’s shirt back down over words that he probably shouldn’t have read, resting his hand on the jut of Dick’s hipbone.

He settles back in to watch the movie, and out of the corner of his eye he sees Dick lift his head until blue eyes meet his own, and sees the corner of Dick’s mouth lift up in a soft, secret smile.

And Roy smiles back.


	4. Clark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clark's turn! This one has a but of a time jump, Dick and Wally are 16 and 18 respectively here!

It’s a beautiful day for what would have been a date, except that Dick’s and Wally’s “date Thursday” had been interrupted, not by an alien invasion (this time), but instead by the buzzing of Dick’s comm, calling the newly-christened Nightwing up to the Watchtower for his assistance on a case.

Wally had begged Dick to allow him to tag along, not that Dick had needed much convincing -the latter was still sore about their one free day in weeks being interrupted _again._

And the result of it was that Wally was now pressed up against the counter in the Watchtower kitchen, Dick’s lips on his and hands wandering up against Kevlar and Batarmour™, Dick’s fingers threaded through his hair and Wally’s cowl pushed back.

The kiss is soft and spit-slick and honestly probably not something they should be doing in the middle of the Watchtower kitchen where any of the superheroes wandering the satellite base could possibly walk in on them. Especially given the fact that Batman was around here somewhere. And that whoever was on monitor duty was probably getting an eyeful right about now.

Wally could care less.

Dick’s lips are fierce and warm and familiar against Wally’s, his tongue probing at barely parted lips and pushing past into a heated mouth as Wally sinks into the kiss, and everything feels _great,_ Dick’s fingers tugging lightly at his hair and the feeling of his muscles under the Kevlar against Wally’s fingertips, and _really,_ even if Uncle Barry walked in on them _right now_ Wally doesn’t feel much obliged to stop.

Of course, the moment the thought crosses his mind someone does enter the kitchen. It’s not Uncle B, though.

“Dick?” The voice, familiar, deep, shocked, gasps. “Wally? _What?”_

Dick pulls away from their kiss for the barest fraction of a second -still a moment too long for Wally- smiles through kiss-swollen lips and says, “Hey, Uncle Clark,” and then wraps his arms back around Wally’s torso and presses him down into the countertop, continuing to kiss the life out of his speedster.

Superman is more silent that Wally has ever heard him, and even without looking at him Wally can tell that the Kryptonian is stunned, eyes wide and jaw dropped. A small part of Wally’s mind wonders if you could knock him over even without the use of kryptonite now.

He whispers the question against Dick’s lips and feels the acrobat freeze momentarily, feels his boyfriend pull back from the kiss and arch an eyebrow.

“I’m finally getting to make out with you after almost a month of interrupted dates and _that’s_ what you’re thinking?” Dick deadpans, and Wally pouts.

“I really wanna know, though,” Wally does not whine, no he definitely does not.

Dick holds the stare for half a second more and then he doubles over in laughter, corners of his eyes crinkling and clutching his stomach. “You’re adorable,” Dick says when his laughing fit subsides enough for him to get words out. “I love you so much.”

“Um,” a voice starts, and then the two boys are abruptly reminded of the ~~elephant~~ Kryptonian in the room.

“You boys- What- Um-” Clark starts, tripping over his words as he processes the scene. “When-”  
“We’re dating,” Wally answers, voice muffled as he nuzzles into the crook of Dick’s neck and shoulder, and watches as Clark blinks rapidly, clearly trying to process the idea of the two boys he’d practically watched grow up in a relationship with each other.

Dick muffles his snicker by pressing his lips to Wally’s temple, then stage-whispers, “Y’know, Walls, I think we really could knock him over without kryptonite right now.”

“I don’t-” Clark says, and Dick wonders what’s so hard for the man to wrap his mind around.

Of course, that’s when Barry flashes into the kitchen, assembles a sandwich and eats it before assembling another, this time taking the time to blurt, “They’re soulmates, Supes,” at a speed almost too fast for Dick to comprehend before the older speedster is breezing out of the room again.

“I-” Clark starts, even as something in his eyes clear. “Congrats?”

He says it like a question, but Dick accepts the statement for the meaning behind it, smiling his trademark grin and shooting Uncle Clark a thumbs up. He holds the older man’s gaze for a good twenty seconds before he shrugs and turns back to Wally, deciding that lavishing his boyfriend that he hadn’t seen properly in a good month with attention was more important than public decency.

Dick’s lips are barely on Wally’s for a second before Barry speeds back into the room, this time yelling before he even fully enters.

“Wally, get off the Batkid now, Batman incoming, I repeat, Batman incoming, do not let the Bat see you defiling his son you will be gonebeforeevenIcanblinkget _off_ theBatkid!”

Wally starts and rolls off of Dick, overbalancing as he rolls into the indent in the kitchen counter meant for the stoves and collapses in a flail of uncoordinated limbs.

Dick stands and laughs, running a hand through his hair and brushing it back into its usual windswept messy instead of make out messy with ease, securing his mask back on his face with a light press of his fingers. A deep breath and a shrug of his shoulders decreases the red in his cheeks and other than the slight swelling of his lips (barely noticeable against his already naturally fuller lips), you wouldn’t even be able to tell that the costumed hero had been making out with his boyfriend not a minute prior.

Wally, on the other hand, has no such luck. Even with his superspeed he takes too long to even untangle himself from the pile of limbs, and the effort to tame his hair or hide the furious blush that runs down his cheeks to neck, a red so bright that even his freckles are almost hidden.

Dick just continues snickering.

“Such love,” Wally grumbles, trying desperately to straighten out his hair. “Much help you ar-”

The sound of Batman’s boots against the floor of the Watchtower sound, getting closer.

Wally squeaks, and then the redhead is gone in a blur of yellow lightning.

Barely half a minute later Bruce is turning the corner into the room, where he finds an amused acrobat still snickering away, leaning against the countertop for support, a stunned Kryptonian just barely beginning to register his surroundings again, and a falsely nonchalant blond speedster chowing down on a bag of chips.

Bruce raises an eyebrow, unseen behind the cowl, but Dick has been dealing with his mentor’s miniscule expressions for the past seven years, and he catches the slight movement of material just above the right eyehole.

Then the eyeholes narrow into slits, aimed at Dick, as the Dark Knight strides forward and grabs something off the countertop. He dangles red goggles from an index finger and his lip twist into a scowl as he frowns at Dick.

“Why was Kid Flash here?”

“Whaddya mean, B, Wally wasn’t-”

“There are skid marks on the floor, and Allen isn’t careless enough to leave those behind.”  
Dick eyes the markings on the floor like they’d personally offended him, then sends Bruce his most innocent smile. “No comment.”

“Nightwing,” Batman starts, and Dick shakes his head.

“Yeah, nope, bye, B, see you later!” Then the acrobat is gone, flipping over Bruce’s shoulder and up into the darkness of the vents.

Bruce sighs.

* * *

Later that night Wally crashes his way into Dick’s room at Mount Justice, flopping onto the bed beside his boyfriend as he rests his head on Dick’s stomach, turning puppy eyes towards the younger boy.

“Tell me the truth, I can handle it, how long do I have to live?”

Dick snorts. “B wasn’t actually mad, as far as I could tell. You might wanna ask Barry for a new pair of goggles, though. I got out of there before I could do much more than play innocent.”

“Aw, you couldn’t get my goggles? I liked that pair.”

Dick shrugs. “They were a necessary casualty of war, I’m afraid.”

Dick doesn’t tell Wally he could have easily grabbed the goggles from Bruce’s hand while flipping over him.

Wally pouts, and Dick grins. He presses a kiss to Wally’s cheek and watches in contentment as the speedster turns and presses his face in Dick’s abdomen, a muffled, “I liked thoseee,” escaping from buried lips.

“You’ll get new ones, babe,” Dick soothes, and grins as Wally keeps whining anyway.

Dick smiles and presses a soft kiss to Wally’s hair, running his fingers through soft red curls.

“I’m sure you’ll live,” he says dryly, and Wally just grumbles more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!


	5. +1: The Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! The last chapter! (This one is quite a bit longer than the rest I think)
> 
> This chapter is a little confusing chronologically because the first half takes place when Dick and Wally are still around twelve and fourteen respectively but the second half takes place after the previous chapter, and Dick and Wally are around seventeen and nineteen respectively.

One thing that a lot of people forget is that sometimes soulmates can share abilities.

Sure, not to the point where the pair can do everything the other can do  _ perfectly,  _ but a pair with a strong bond usually find themselves doing things they couldn’t do before.

The first time it happens is when Dick goes to school one morning and meets Babs at the front entrance like he always does, and the girl is muttering to herself as she pores over her chemistry notes.

“What the  _ hell  _ is an anion?” Babs groans, lips twisted unhappily.

“It’s a negatively charged chemical species,” Dick blurts without thinking, and chemistry has never been a particularly strong subject of his -sure, he understands it better than most of his peers, he has to if he doesn’t want to accidentally poison himself making an antidote to the countless toxins that he’s exposed to as Robin- and he’s always been better in the practical applications of the science compared to the memorisation of definitions.

Babs shoots a surprised glance in his direction but otherwise just thanks him and turns back to her papers.

That’s what gives Dick his first clue.

The second time it happens cements the idea in his head.

He’s on patrol with Bruce, and they’re just wrapping up a simple armed robbery when the crook aims a shot at Batman and fires, and Bruce, distracted as he is tying up the rest of the guy’s buddies, doesn’t notice the bullet until it’s a tad too late to dodge.

He resigns himself to a major bruise under the layers of kevlar, and thanks God that the firearm isn’t one capable of piercing through the Batman armour.

Then Dick  _ moves,  _ a blur of black and red and yellow, and there’s the sound of metal pinging to the floor and Bruce isn’t hurt in the slightest.

The robber is wide-eyed, and Bruce resists the urge to freeze in shock like the robber just did.

Instead he barks out a command for Dick to tie up the guy and watches as Dick bursts into action from where he was gaping at his glove, just the faintest outline of a bullet that had been clenched in tight fists.

Bruce swears he sees a crackle of lightning when his protegé moves.

Dick is unusually quiet when they get into the Batmobile and call it a night.

When they finally make it back to the Batcave Bruce pulls the crumpled bullet that he’d picked up from the ground out of his belt and places it on the table attached to the Batcomputer.

“Look familiar?” He asks, and sees Dick draw the similarities between the crumpled metal of the bullet he’d stopped and the bullets that the Flash family stops at a whim.

“I-” Dick starts, startled. “Bruce, what-”

“Ever heard of soulmate ability sharing?” Is what Bruce says in lieu of a reply, and he watches as Dick’s eyes go wide and his lips part in shock.

“I-” Dick says, scrambling to grab his phone. “I’ve got to call Walls.”

* * *

“Dude!” Is the first thing Wally says when he picks up on the first ring. “I did a freaking  _ backflip _ today! Accidentally!”

“You’ve been getting it too, then,” Dick says in lieu of an answer, but he can’t stop the wide grin that’s pulling at his lips.

“Getting what?” Wally asks, and Dick can practically hear the speedster’s eyes narrowing.

“Soulmate ability sharing, man,” Dick replies, and hears the eep of shock that filters down the line. “Last week I answered Babs’ chemistry question without even thinking and just now on patrol I’m pretty sure I stopped a bullet at superspeed with my  _ hand.” _

“Dude,” Wally breathes, and then it’s, “Hang on,” and the call drops.

Dick barely has a moment to feel upset over the sudden cut off before there’s the squeal of friction and the smell of burning rubber and then the doorbell rings.

Dick’s sliding down the banister and vaulting the couch to answer the door before Alfred’s even out of the kitchen, and when he throws the door open, Wally’s right there.

“That was… fast,” Dick says, grinning as Wally laughs, green eyes bright as he steps past the younger boy and ascends the stairs to Dick’s room, as at home in the Manor as Dick himself is.

“Alf,” Dick calls over his shoulder as he follows Wally up the stairs. “Wally’s come over, we’re going up to my room!”

Alfred comes to stand in the kitchen entrance and arches an eyebrow, otherwise stoic as ever. “I gathered as much, Master Richard. Will Master Wallace be staying the night?”

“Probably.”

* * *

”Dude,” Wally says the moment Dick enters his room. The speedster is already sprawled out over Dick’s covers, hugging one of Dick’s truly obscene number of pillows to his chest. “Soulmate ability sharing? Really? I thought that was, like, a myth, man!”

“No, just rare,” Dick says, and watches as Wally’s eyes go wide.

“That’s so cool, dude,” he breathes, and then he’s lunging at Dick and throwing his arms around the younger boy.

“Dude, we could totally, like, train each other! I can teach you how to control your speed and you can teach me all those twists and leaps and jumps and it’s gonna be awesome!”

Dick just laughs, pressing a soft kiss to Wally’s cheek. “You do know we only have a percentage of each other’s skills right? Like I could probably only run at a fraction of your speed, and you could probably only do a fraction of the stuff I do.”

“Still enough to train!” Wally cries, and Dick’s starting to feel the excitement bleed into him as well, until he’s grinning widely too, returning the enthusiasm that Wally’s projecting.

“We start tomorrow, then,” Dick replies, and grins when Wally fistpumps and jumps once before flopping facedown into Dick’s bedspread with a muffled, “Yes!”

* * *

It takes a few weeks of training and tests to determine that Dick’s fastest is approximately two-thirds of Wally’s speed and Wally’s shared flexibility and skill is around the same percentage, and that’s when they start incorporating it into their fighting style.

Dick tends not to use superspeed out in the field because metas in Gotham still isn’t a big thing, and he’s still habitually conditioned to his acrobatic moves on patrol, but in a pinch he’s more than willing to use speed to get out of it. Wally uses the gymnastic skills he’s gained far more liberally than Dick does his speed, but no one notices, if only for the fact that Wally’s usually moving so fast that no one sees it anyway.

It stays that way for years, until a mission with the team, one that, predictably, goes wrong as soon as they get on scene.

The bad guys had been tipped off about them, it appears. They don’t seem to have been prepared for the team specifically, but they definitely knew that they wouldn’t be alone. All of them are armed to the teeth with handguns and knives, and a couple are carrying heavy-duty assault rifles, the kind that could, at close range, possibly puncture through the body armour that most of the team wore.

At first it seems like the team's going to get out mostly unscathed -most of the men are down, or at least disarmed and incapacitated- when Wally goes down with a cry of pain.

Dick feels the pain through their bond, the sharp, sudden flare in his right shin before it disappears, and then all Dick can feel is the anger that floods his veins.

How  _ dare  _ they hurt his soulmate?

A flip to avoid an incoming knife quickly turns into a handstand, which turns into a way for Dick to lash out, shifting nimbly into an inhumanly fast spin that sweeps his opponents’ feet out from under them, and his three attackers fall with thuds, precise blows sending them down for the count before they can even reorientate themselves.

Nightwing makes his way to Wally’s side, leaving a trail of fallen opponents behind him as the ones still conscious moan from their various positions on the floor. A couple have broken wrists and fractured fingers, a couple more still unconscious with blood trickling from their temples. Some are twitching from high voltage electric shocks, and Dick’s escrima sticks are still crackling in warning. The worst of the lot have their own weapons turned against them, blades buried in places that wouldn’t kill -no, Dick wasn’t that far gone- femurs shattered and jaws dislocated, ribs broken and blood painting their cheeks and lips red.

Oh, Nightwing is _angry,_ and the ones who hurt the person he loved more than anything are going to _pay._

All things considered, Dick thinks when he finally makes it to Wally’s side, it’s really not that serious of an injury. It’s a clean break through bone in his right leg, and from what Dick can tell without an x-ray it seems mostly in place and healing already -perks of being a speedster.

Wally has a multitude of other injuries, all minor compared to the broken leg, a bullet graze along his cheekbone and shallow slash down his arm, but those are surface wounds and already healing well enough.

“I’m okay,” Wally grits out, even as Dick fusses over him, sitting up without warning and almost headbutting the younger boy. “Gimme a min- Watch out!”

Dick spins as Wally’s warning registers, and it’s only the adrenaline that drives his senses into hyperdrive and his borrowed speed that allows him to catch the bullet that’s flying their way, the metal casing crumpling in his grip and dropping to the ground with an echoing clink.

His feet react before Dick can even process that he’s moving, and then there’s a gloved fist crackling with yellow lightning meeting the jaw of a wide-eyed sniper, a blur of black and gray and bright sapphire blue, and the pieces of a dismantled rifle fall to the ground in a waterfall of pieces, and there’s the thud of an unconscious body hitting concrete.

The sudden silence is what pulls Dick out of his fury, and when he looks up the team is gaping at him, the bad guys already taken down and tied up, unconscious.

“Nightwing, what the hel-” Artemis starts, and Dick tightens his jaw, walking over to Wally and helping the speedster stand.

“Not here, Artemis,” he says as Wally hobbles towards the rest of the team, arm slung around Dick’s shoulder and wincing every time weight is put on his broken leg. “I’ll tell you guys more later.” 

The archer scowls, but subsides while Aqualad pulls himself out of his shock and turns to M’gann, telling her to call the Bioship to them.

M’gann shakes her head once and nods, and a moment later the red ship is landing behind them, and the team is making their way up. Wally hesitates at the base of the ramp, staring up the incline before he grits his teeth, leans a tad heavier on Dick, and takes a step forward.

Dick shakes his head, rolling his eyes behind his mask. “Yeah, no.”

Then he scoops Wally up into his arms, a bridal carry not dissimilar to the way Wally carries him when they’re running, and Wally pouts, but presses closer to Dick’s body anyway.

When they get onto the Bioship, M’gann has already laid out a bed for Wally, and Dick lays Wally out, splinting the speedster’s leg after checking to make sure it’s properly set.

“Gonna have to cast that when we get back to medbay, Walls,” Dick says, grinning unrepentantly when the redhead groans. It’s common knowledge that Wally hates casts, even though his speedster healing ensures it’ll be off by the next day, at the latest.

“Do I have to,” he grumbles, and Dick raises an eyebrow.

“Unless you want to run the risk of the bone not setting right then we’ll have to break it again,” the acrobat answers, bone dry, and Wally pouts even as the rest if the team winces at the deadpan description of a very painful procedure.

The moment Wally’s leg is splinted and treated, Artemis corners Dick.

“Ok, spill, ‘Wing,” the archer demands. “What the  _ hell  _ was that back there?”

Wally pushes himself up into a sitting position on the mattress, leaning against the wall and eyeing the two. Dick is biting his lip, turning back to shoot Wally a glance.

“Do you realise we’ve never actually had to tell anyone?” The acrobat asks, seemingly non sequitur, and Wally cocks his head.

“Huh,” he replies, humming. “You’re actually right.”

“Tell us what?” M’gann asks then, and Dick grins.

“That we’re soulmates, of course.”

The ship explodes into chaos.

“Wha- Did I hear that right?” Artemis practically squawks, and Wally snorts at her reaction, his laughter cutting off abruptly when the archer sends him a glare that could peel paint.

Conner is staring at them, expression just mildly curious, but not stunned like Artemis’s and Kaldur’s. “What’s the big deal?”

_ “What’s the big deal?”  _ Artemis repeats, pitch rising towards the end of the sentence, incredulous. “Your soulmate is, like, the one person in the galaxy who’s  _ made  _ for you, the person who’s supposed to always understand you! Most people don’t even get to find their soulmate until they’re in their late thirties, if at all! And Kid Idiot and Boy Wonder over there are what, nineteen and seventeen?”

“Actually, we found out when I was fourteen,” Wally adds unhelpfully, and Artemis pins him with yet another glare.

Kaldur is watching the exchange, clearly surprised, but when he opens his mouth all he says is, “Congratulations, I wish you two all the best.”

M’gann is silent, almost suspiciously so, and when Dick turns his attention to her her cheeks are flushed and yeah, it doesn’t look like she’s breathing.

Dick’s about to go and check on her -Martians may have a larger lung capacity than humans, but it’s already been quite a few minutes, and Dick doesn’t think it’s very good for her- when she suddenly inhales sharply, harshly, and Dick braces himself.

“Eeeeee!!” she squeals, and Dick winces at the pitch, half wondering if it could have shattered glass, had there been any glass on board. “Oh my God, you guys are soulmates, oh my God, that’s so cute, no wonder you guys are always so in sync, can you really read each other’s minds like on TV oh my gosh this is so great I’ve never met a soulbonded couple before why didn’t you tell us before oh my gosh-”

Dick laughs. “Breathe, M’gann, breathe.”

Wally grins. “And for the record, beautiful, no, we can’t read each other’s minds. I can sometimes feel what he’s feeling though.”

“And you forgot the thing that landed us in this situation in the first place,” Dick tacks on, and everyone’s attention turns to him.

“Soulmate ability sharing,” the acrobat continues, and eyes widen.

“I was under the impression that that was a myth,” Kaldur says, and his silver eyes are wide, almost confused.

“Not a myth,” Dick answers. “Just really rare. We found out about it a couple of years back when I accidentally accessed KF’s superspeed. I don’t use it often though, it’s not good for the no-metas-in-Gotham rule. KF has some of my moves too, lik-

“Don’t you dare, Wallace Rudolph West,” Dick suddenly breaks off, hissing. 

He spins on his heel to face Wally, who’d been halfway to standing up. “You have a broken leg that isn’t casted and barely splinted properly, if you try and pull any acrobatics now I swear to God I will get B to bench you for the next three months. And no kissing until then too.”

Wally pouts, but sits back down anyway.

Artemis shoots Wally a grin, and sniggers openly at the sulking speedster.

“Whipped,” she comments, snickers intensifying. “Completely whipped, Kid Mouth.”

Wally just sulks harder, and Dick hides his smile behind a glove, manhandling Wally back into a sitting position. “Come on, soulmate. Let’s get the rest of your injuries patched up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update as regularly as possible, probably twice a week until it's done!
> 
> [My Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/_dreamdweller/)  
> Pop over and say hi!


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